The Form and Interpretation of Finite and non （的形式和解释有限和非）.pdf

The Form and Interpretation of Finite and non-Finite Verbs in Swahili Kamil Ud Deen and Nina Hyams UCLA A great deal is known about the distribution of finite and non-finite forms in early language and increasingly, studies are investigating the semantic properties of these different forms. An important question for acquisition theory concerns the relationship between the childs developing morphosyntax and the semantics typically expressed by these structures. In this paper we will explore the form and interpretation of finite and non-finite verbs in the early stages of the acquisition of Swahili. Because Swahili is a heavily agglutinating language with independent morphemes for tense, agreement, mood and other semantic categories, it is a particularly good language for looking at the relation between form and meaning in the childs developing morphosyntax. Before turning to Swahili, we provide some background findings and assumptions. 1.0. The expression of mood in early grammar Hoekstra and Hyams (1998) (henceforth HH), based on work by Wijnen (1997) and others, argued that RIs in languages such as Dutch have an essentially modal or irrealis meaning -- that is, they express the childs needs, wishes, and intentions with respect to some eventuality (Ingram Thompson 1996; Lasser 1997, a.o. ). Examples are given in (1): (1) a. Papa boek lezen b. Niekj e buiten spelen Daddy book read-inf Niekj e outside play-inf ‘(I want )Daddy to read the book ’ ‘Niekj e wants to play outside’ To the extent that this is true, children have zeroed in on an essential property of adult grammar since infinitives typically have irrealis meaning in adult grammar as